Use of sorghum in bakery and as bio-charcoal

Women farmers in Kano, Nigeria, are being trained on benefiting from technologies for enhancing the sorghum value chain.

The training of trainers workshop primarily focused on the use of sorghum in making bakery products like cakes, biscuits and bread; and producing bio-charcoal. The benefits of sorghum, food safety practices, hygiene, sanitation, and entrepreneurship were explained to the participants at the event. The training aimed to build the capacity of rural women to actualize the objective of Nigeria Sorghum Transformation Value Chain (STVC) in reducing poverty, improving food security, nutrition and health of women and children.

The 2-day training, organized by ICRISAT, was attended by 21 women extension agents and group leaders drawn from the Kano State Agricultural Development Project. The participants expressed enthusiasm to form the ‘Women Sorghum Processors and Marketers Association’ and provide training to other women in their communities on new technologies. They have sought the support of STVC, ICRISAT and its partners.

ICRISAT and STVC used the opportunity to link up with Africent Integrated Trade Microfinance Cooperative Society who provided training on carbonizing of agricultural waste product to make bio-charcoal. Large-scale adoption of this technology will help reduce the level of deforestation in semi-arid regions since women could use bio-charcoal as an alternative source of energy for household use as well generate income.

Africent also promised markets and credit linkages to women entrepreneurs who are interested in making bio-charcoal. The material for making bio-charcoal includes easily available material like crop residues, weeds, rice shaft and irrigation channel weeds which are abundant in the rural areas of Northern Nigeria.

The training was held recently at Kura Local Government Area, Kano state. The activity was organized under the CGIAR Research Program on Dryland Cereals and on Dryland Systems.

The CGIAR Research Program on Dryland Cereals (Dryland Cereals) is a partnership between two members of the CGIAR Consortium – ICRISAT (lead center), and ICARDA, along with a number of public and private institutes and organizations, governments, and farmers globally.